Ashes to ashes - Boycott
Geoffrey Boycott believes England have only pride to play for after insisting "the Ashes are gone" following yesterday's emphatic defeat by Australia in the second Test in Adelaide.
The former England opener witnessed nine England wickets fall for 60 runs as Andrew Flintoff's side collapsed from 69 for one to 129 all out, before Australia charged to their victory target for the loss of just four wickets.
And Boycott warned there is no chance of England retaining the urn Down Under after a defeat he labelled "humiliating and soul-destroying".
"Make no mistake about it, the Ashes are gone," he wrote in his column in the Daily Telegraph.
"If you support England, don't kid yourself that they might come back. No England team in history have recovered from 2-0 down against Australia. And let's face it, on current form, this is not a side capable of making history.
"The only explanation I can see for what happened in Adelaide yesterday is that England were complacent. They thought they had done all the hard work to put themselves on equal terms."
After insisting any hope of retaining the Ashes is now futile, Boycott believes Duncan Fletcher's side must focus on returning home with at least something to show for their tour.
"Now this series is about pride. It is about whether England can stop a 5-0 whitewash, because Australia are smarting after losing the Ashes and they want to eradicate the demons of 2005 by winning every Test match.
"As for England, they must be absolutely gutted. This defeat is so humiliating and soul-destroying that I don't see how they can come back.
"I've talked about how the bowling coach needs to earn his corn by sorting Steve Harmison out; now it's the batting coach who needs to get his act together. From now on we need less talking and better cricket."
» Leave a comment
- Your E-mail address is never displayed. If you enter it, it will only be visible to the blog author
- The line and paragraph breaks automatically
